QT tank that may become a new set up! 22g

[MattW]

Looks like space and its many stars

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've just spotted the stowaway tiny blue shrimp in this tank after I added the photos here!!


Can't be from the ones I added to cube, different sellers and those went straight into ciano cube... so this is a freebie that must have came with one of the other fish!!

Also seems to a lighter blue than the deep blues in the cube - but hey! free shrimp!!

Wow, really surprised me!

 

[MattW]

I don't know how the hillstream compares to adult size, or which sub-species, I just know the seller said they breed like rabbits for him, and most prolifically in fact in his darkest, most low flow, less oxygenated tank(??) But the ancistrus other than Bowie are certainly tiny.

I personally don't know a lot about them but have always found them interesting. I think I sent this video to you before but KFS had them breed like rabbits to similar to the conditions your seller mentioned

Little fella looks chuffed

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Suppose shrimp baby could have been moved over with the bolbitius and dragonstone from my main tank, which has my previous shrimp colony it in. But those have been mixed colours for years and throw mostly wild types now, which is why I wanted a tank of just blues, so the fact it's a blue makes that unlikely!

But shrimp often hitchhike on plants, bought several plants from different sellers including the one I got the blue dream shrimp from... so much more likely to be an accidental freebie than from my wild-ish type colony.

 

[Sparx]

More Bowie pics from after acclimating just before adding him to QT - he's from the same seller as the other ancistrus I bought, though bigger, and around the same time, so QT with the others View attachment 346724View attachment 346725View attachment 346726View attachment 346727View attachment 346728

And he measures about 11cms.
Tiny snowball and ling-fin green dragons are even tinier in comparison;
View attachment 346729View attachment 346730

That's one of the tiny green dragons next to the hill stream loach

Bowie is such a beaut!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Bowie is such a beaut!

Thank you! I think so too

 

[CassCats]

Please don't hate on me for getting long-fins! He showed photos of the adults, and they were just too beautiful to resist. In a lot of fish species, I don't love long fins, but doesn't seem like such a big deal with ancistrus, to my mind.

I don't know how the hillstream compares to adult size, or which sub-species, I just know the seller said they breed like rabbits for him, and most prolifically in fact in his darkest, most low flow, less oxygenated tank(??) But the ancistrus other than Bowie are certainly tiny.

Have a couple more snaps of the pygmy cories too - those I've bred for years, and I'd say they're just big enough to have developed their adult colouration, they're still really young and will get 2-3 times larger before full grown.

Hoplo-who-is-not-technically-a-hoplo has also been braver and emerging more again after his first day settling in again after the tank move! Haven't been able to snap more pics of him out and about in the tank again yet, but he certainly has been, then darts behind a chunk of dragonstone or back to the dark bogwood corner that is meant to hide the heater and filter intake, along with a nice dark area for his favourite pleco cave that fits him perfectly

Excuse me while I come nitpick on your longfins!! (Sarcasm)

While yeah longfin fish often have issues, plecos usually tend to not be bothered by them.

This is my guy, Hallow. He lives in my 135g with the goldfish and common pleco.
I raised him from Itty bitty fry, he was born to my original red calico pair, before I lost the parents to unfortunate circumstances.

He's got more impressive fins than even his father.

Bowie looks incredible! Starlights are some of the prettiest small plecos out there.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I see nothing wrong with keeping LF plecos. Even if they are lazing on a sunny afternoon....

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You pleco keeping experienced folks like @TwoTankAmin @CassCats @DoubleDutch and @Naughts - are males more prone to "rescaping" their tank than females, by chance?

Photo to follow, but my two girls I raised since 2020 tend to just stick to their preferred driftwood hideouts, and don't really mess with the sand, but have noticed some pretty dramatic re-scaping in this 22g! Especially since adding Bowie, the adult male L181 I don't mind at all (although already knew I'd have to choose which plants to plant and how), just curious if it's more a male thing, given they choose the cave and look after the eggs and baby plecs?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You can see he's in that pleco cave, and the sand has been cleared/piled more dramatically over the last couple of days!

He does use the darker brown pleco cave to sit in sometimes too. No adult females with him yet though, since it's still QT

How it looked before

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I think he disapproves of the siamensis 53B being where it was...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Male plecos claim caves. Once they do they are looking to spawn. They will hang their rear end out of the cave and occasionally wave their tails about. They are trying to attract a female. If they are successful in doing so and there is a spawn, you will still see the tail hanging out, but much less so that when advertising for a lady.

You will also see them deeper in the cave because they work to keep the eggs clean. But they also need to oxygenate the water in the cave and they so this by doing what I call the Bump, Bounce Boogie (song by Asleep at the Wheel). They will bounce up and dawn and wave their tail. The purpose of this is the get water to circulate out of and into the cave which insures there is good dissolve oxygen for the kids.

Over the years I have watched this behavior to the point where I know when a dad is on offspring just by watching it do the Bump Bounce Boogie regularly. All the waving of the tail is what often clears the sand in front of a cave right down to the bottom glass.

edited for typos

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Male plecos claim caves. Once they do they are looking to spawn. They will hang their rear end out of the cave and occasionally wave their tails about. They are trying to attract a female. If they are successful in doing so and there is a spawn. you will still see the tail hanging out, but much less so that when advertising for a lady.

You will also see them deeper in the cave because they work to keep the eggs clean. But they also need to oxygenate the water in the cave and they so this by doing what I call the Bump, Bounce Boogie (song by Asleep at the Wheel). Yhey will bounce up and dawn and wave their tail. The purpose of this is the get water to circulate out of and into the cave which insures there is good dissolve oxygen for the kids.

Over the years I have watched this behavior to the point where I know when a dad is on offspring just by watching it do the Bump Bounce Boogie regularly. All the waving of the tail is what often clears the sand in front of a cave right down to the bottom glass.

Haha! This is all brilliant to know, thank you!!

So this is my male being a randy male, then?
He's not in with the girls yet, although they are in a tank just across the room within eyesight of each other, maybe they've been flirting... still, a good sign, I think!

I also didn't know for sure it was him, thought it might even have been my hoplo that technically isn't a hoplo. But suspected Bowie first and foremost!

 

[CassCats]

Yeah my Lorgie Georgie is a digger, he digs piles of sands too lol

They can dig and move some stuff around if they feel like it. It's why some carpet plants aren't doable with plecos either haha